It's entirely predictable: if a note a up to a fourth from the previous one, you don't need a ' or a ,; otherwise, you need one (or more) comma or tick. What's the problem?
For me, it was a two-step discovery process:
1. Truly being comfortable with what was described above (i.e., when to use the tick given two consecutive pitches, especially tritones, etc.);
2. Understanding the rules regarding chords and simultaneous notes.
It's #2 in particular (I think?) that makes the \relative mode seem "unpredictable" until you are quite comfortable with the rules:
a. the first pitch following a chord uses the FIRST (i.e., not LAST) pitch written inside the chord (n.b., not necessarily the root!) as its "relative origin";
b. \simultaneous music works like non-\simultaneous music (i.e., the last pitch in a \simultaneous music set becomes the "relative origin" for the first pitch that follows the \simultaneous music set).
[Someone please correct me if I'm wrong -- this is off the top of my head, and I don't want to mislead and confuse newbies!]
However, I must agree that \relative mode is superior, once you have your own "Eureka!" moment with it! =)
Best regards, Kieren.
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